


The Stranger

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: Nabari no Ou
Genre: AU, Blood and Injury, Slight horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 11:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18590758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: Raikou always expected betrayal. He just never imagined it would come from Gau.





	The Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> Been listening to The Magnus Archives and wanted to revisit this show with a new twist. I always loved Gau and thought it would be interesting if there was more to him than meets the eye

Raikou shoved Gau behind him with a growl, his sheathed sword all but leaping to his hand as he faced Yoite and Yukimi. The two men had the grace to look grim, like they didn’t want to do this any more than Raikou did. 

“Raikou.” Yukimi sighed, “Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Orders are orders, you know. We don’t have a choice in this.”

“There’s always a choice. But I won’t go without a fight.” Raikou warned as Yoite raised his hand and Yukimi his gun. He’d always known it would come down to this. He’d always known the day was coming where his hand would be forced. It didn’t matter. As long as he could ensure Gau’s safety, things would be okay. He’d take Gau and run, and go from there.

“We don’t expect you to.” Yukimi looked resigned, “I really wish things didn’t have to end this way.” 

“Me too.” Raikou muttered, “Gau, stay behind me.”

“Is this it, then?” Gau asked softly, his voice surprisingly steady. Raikou unsheathed his blade, determined to keep him safe. He expected an attack from the front, from the side, even. He didn’t expect a blade to pierce him from behind before his adversaries could take a single step. Yukimi gasped, Yoite’s eyes widened with surprise, and that more than anything clued Raikou in to the fact that something had not gone to plan. That something was terribly wrong. He stumbled, turning his head with wild eyes and his heart in his throat, expecting to see his partner crumpled on the ground, dead and silent, having been taken out without Raikou’s knowledge and leaving his back unprotected. The very thought left a foul taste in his mouth that had nothing to do with the blood. If Gau was harmed-

Gau was fine. Gau was smiling benignly. Gau was holding the hilt of the blade currently piercing Raikou’s body, his pale hands steady and unhurried.

“G...Gau...?” he rasped, unable to comprehend the situation, “What...?”

“Sorry, Raikou.” he chirped, “But this has gone on long enough.” Raikou stared, his breath coming in short pants as the blade burned within him. He couldn’t understand what was happening. He couldn’t understand why his Gau was standing there with his soft smile and gentle green eyes and those uncalloused fingers wrapped elegantly around the hilt of a blade like it belonged there. Were Gau’s nails always so sharp? 

“What do you mean?” Yukimi demanded, his blue eyes narrowed with confused betrayal as he stared at them, trying to puzzle this new development out, “What’s gone on long enough? Hey Meguro, what the hell!?”

“The Nabari world is comprised of things that are hidden.” Gau smiled, “Have you ever considered that there’s a world hidden even from the Nabari?”

“Like Aizawa.” Yoite murmured thoughtfully, and Gau laughed. It wasn’t his familiar charming laugh. This was a laugh like a headache, and Raikou’s vision grew blurrier. 

“Gau....” Raikou stared, his vision growing shaky, “Gau, what...?” Any moment. Any moment Gau would reveal that this was a trick. That he was protecting them somehow, clever Gau saving the day again. 

“Not quite like Aizawa. But almost.” Gau ignored Raikou, “I’m not immortal. Not in the same way he is.”

“Gau-“ Raikou was cut off by Gau shifting the blade just enough to break his words off. Gau’s smile didn’t falter. It was beginning to grow unsettling. 

“Oh Raikou, do you ever stop talking?” he sighed as if talking to a toddler. Yoite dared to take a step forward.

“Who...” his voice was quiet. Contemplative. Wary. “Who are you?”

Gau smiled, his teeth noticeably sharper than they were a second ago.

“A stranger.” he said simply, and he yanked the blade from Raikou’s body. Raikou made a strangled sound and twisted as he fell to his knees, his eyes never leaving Gau. Yukimi and Yoite hurried to Raikou’s side, their mission apparently forgotten in the face of this new revelation.

“Gau...” Raikou reached towards him with a shaky hand, unable to tell if the wetness on his face was blood or tears. Gau looked down at him, no trace of adoration or love in his eyes. No trace of the ever present devotion. 

His shadow was longer than it should be.

“I guess this is where we part ways.” Gau said conversationally, like he was saying goodbye to a casual acquaintance and not the man he’d spent the last few years completely devoted to, “Its been fun, Raikou, but I think the show is over now.”

“Gau-“

“I’m bored.” he shrugged, no feeling, no regret in his eyes, “I could kill you, Raikou, but something tells me that leaving you alive and alone would hurt worse.”

“Gau, wait!”

“How will you go on without me?” Gau mused, “I was your world, wasn’t I? Losing me almost destroyed you, if I recall. You survived it the first time, let’s see if you can do it again.”

“ _Gau_!”

“Goodbye.” he smiled, and then he was turning and walking away. Raikou tried to follow, but ended up collapsing clutching his stomach. His eyes never left Gau’s elongated shadow, his tiny silhouette growing smaller, framed against the setting sun. Yukimi and Yoite pulled him up, dragging Raikou away from the small puddle of blood that had formed under him. Raikou’s arm swayed, his hand still desperately reaching towards Gau, unable, unwilling to understand.

“Let him go, Raikou.” Yukimi murmured, his voice tight and pained.

“I can’t.” Raikou whispered as the world began to tunnel, “I can’t. It can’t be... not Gau. Not Gau, he would never...”

“We’ll figure all this out later.” Yoite said quietly as they bundled Raikou into the car, “We’ll tell the Chief what just happened, and go from there.”

“Something else... has to be going on...” he breathed as his eyes slipped closed, “Gau...”

He heard Yoite and Yukimi talking lowly above his head, but the words were incomprehensible. He slipped into unconsciousness almost gratefully, and Gau’s cold green eyes were the last thing he saw before darkness claimed him.


End file.
